If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live!

How many of you are afraid of bees and shoo them out of the window or even squash them when they find their way into the house? You are? Well, maybe if you knew how much bees do for you, you might feel differently the next time one of these busy guys gets a little lost.

Gerbera pollen - Copyright Lionel Carr

Making honey is the smallest service bees offer the world. Their greatest service is pollination. Without bees most of life would simply die out, humans included. Albert Einstein once said “If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.” Four years. Think about it.

So why am I talking about this? If you haven't heard yet here it is - bees are dying out in the world. It's so serious that it's been given a name - Colony Collapse Disorder. 33% of bees are mysteriously dying and the bees are not able to reproduce fast enough to make this up. If this continues, bees will go extinct. And then so will we.

Bees pollinate about 80% of plants. If plants don't get pollinated, they don't produce seeds and without seeds many plant species will simply die. If this happens, not only will we have no fruit and vegetables to eat, but many trees will die out and the amount of oxygen in the world will rapidly decrease, as plants create oxygen. No food. No oxygen. No animals. No humans.

Next time you see a bee buzzing around in your house, carefully help her (yes these hard workers are female) find her way back outside. She is your life insurance.

New edit:

In a recent report, March 2013, it's been reported that there is evidence that Colony Collapse Disorder is due to the continued agricultural use of insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, commonly used on crops, and manufactured by companies such as Bayer and Syngenta.

Even more alarming is the news that the UK and Germany have both refused to ban these bee-killing chemicals.